“MONGOLIAN GOVERNMENT PLAN TO BUILD NEW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WILL REDUCE FLIGHT DELAY AND CANCELLATION
The government of Japan has come upon an agreement with the Mongolian Government on a 270-million USD loan repayable over the 40 or so years at a redeemable rate of just 0.2 percent, to build a new airport to service Ulaanbaatar.
The city’s current airport suffers from occasional high winds and has a relatively short runway unsuitable for larger aircrafts on dock.
The new facility, to be built and completed by 2015, will be able to service all larger modern aircraft and affords better protection from wind shear. It should reduce annual flight cancellations and delays from the current level of 2.5 percent down to 0.5 percent.
These improvements will advocate the needs of travelers to a greater extent. The airport will be built in the Khoshigt Valley, near Terelj in Tov Aimag, about 54 kilometers from the capital.
Construction on the new airport – together with a high speed motorway that will connect Ulaanbaatar with the airport – is expected to be started later this year.
The loan was agreed on condition that Japanese contractors and suppliers were used. International air traffic to Mongolia has been increasing and is expected that the rate will continue to increase.
Capacity is set to rise from the current level of 600,000 passengers annually to roughly 2.5 million. That is about the same as the total national population. Cargo capacity is set to increase 10-fold. Improvements in air travel go hand in hand with plans to lessen dependence on rail links to China.
Mongolia will also see the development and construction of an eastern spur from the Trans-Mongolian line heading east from Ulaanbaatar to the eastern Trans-Siberia route which will link Mongolia directly to a sea port for the first time – circumnavigating the current need for Mongolian raw materials, goods and products to pass through China prior to export.
China has a history of closing the border with Mongolia at times of political and religious tensions such as the Dalai Lama’s visits to the country, so increasing alternative transportation routes to provide options other than reliance on China are increasingly being seen as a desirable policy.
Mongolia is once again not forgotten about with the tedious effort of Japan’s government.
The city’s current airport suffers from occasional high winds and has a relatively short runway unsuitable for larger aircrafts on dock.
The new facility, to be built and completed by 2015, will be able to service all larger modern aircraft and affords better protection from wind shear. It should reduce annual flight cancellations and delays from the current level of 2.5 percent down to 0.5 percent.
These improvements will advocate the needs of travelers to a greater extent. The airport will be built in the Khoshigt Valley, near Terelj in Tov Aimag, about 54 kilometers from the capital.
Construction on the new airport – together with a high speed motorway that will connect Ulaanbaatar with the airport – is expected to be started later this year.
The loan was agreed on condition that Japanese contractors and suppliers were used. International air traffic to Mongolia has been increasing and is expected that the rate will continue to increase.
Capacity is set to rise from the current level of 600,000 passengers annually to roughly 2.5 million. That is about the same as the total national population. Cargo capacity is set to increase 10-fold. Improvements in air travel go hand in hand with plans to lessen dependence on rail links to China.
Mongolia will also see the development and construction of an eastern spur from the Trans-Mongolian line heading east from Ulaanbaatar to the eastern Trans-Siberia route which will link Mongolia directly to a sea port for the first time – circumnavigating the current need for Mongolian raw materials, goods and products to pass through China prior to export.
China has a history of closing the border with Mongolia at times of political and religious tensions such as the Dalai Lama’s visits to the country, so increasing alternative transportation routes to provide options other than reliance on China are increasingly being seen as a desirable policy.
Mongolia is once again not forgotten about with the tedious effort of Japan’s government.
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